


Be the Sky

by WakeUpDreaming



Series: Holiday Shenanigans: Holiday Collection 2016 [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Scorpion (TV 2014)
Genre: Comfort, Crossover, Foster Care, Found Family, Gen, Kid Fic, Name Changes, Orphanage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 18:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9455846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: Happy's on her own in the foster home, until she hears a familiar voice come back.





	

Happy plays with the key and lock in front of her, trying to get her lock picking skills on par with Louis, the older boy who keeps telling her she’ll never be as good as him. She’s trying not to let the day seep into her daydreams, thoughts of a loving family with a mom and a dad and maybe a little sister, but she can’t keep Louis’ cruel words out.

_Nobody’ll ever want you._

_Even Mary got adopted._

_My mom and dad will be back soon. Your dad doesn’t even like you._

Happy wipes away a tear, pulling her blanket over her lap. The light of the January moon hardly gives her enough to see by, but it’s all the better – this way nobody can see her cry.

She does the math and gets the number of days it’s been since she got here, but it’s starting to feel stupid, useless. Infinite. She’s been in the system six years – longer than almost anybody else her age here – and it’s getting easier and easier to think Louis is right. She’s never going to find a home.

She wipes her eyes again.

Happy’s ready to sleep, ready to close herself off to the day and disappear into a world where that pickup truck comes back for her, when she hears footsteps. Faced toward the wall, her eyes fly open as she listens as hard as she can. She hates herself for the hope that bubbles up in her chest.

“Oh, Mary Sue,” Happy hears Ms. Sourey sigh. “You were doing so well.”

“Not my fault!” replies a familiar, comforting voice, small but just as stubborn as Happy’s. “The other kid kicked me first!”

“You shouldn’t have shoved him off the porch,” Ms. Sourey scolds.

Happy rolls her eyes. Always their fault – no matter what else happens.

“We’ll get you some sheets,” says Ms. Sourey. “You can make the bed you had before. We haven’t had many people join over the holidays.”

Happy scoffs before she remembers others can hear. Ms. Sourey’s technically not wrong – Happy got sent back on December 16th, not technically the holidays yet. And maybe Happy’s such a revolving door to them that they never consider her joining – just coming back from a break.

The door closes and, immediately, every other girl in the room sits up.

“What’d you do to him?”

“We missed you!”

“Did you get any presents?”

Happy wishes she was like all of them. She’s the oldest in this room, and the other four girls are all five or six. Mary Sue was the one closest to her age, and she’d been taken in by a nice family. Or, at least, some people who’d seemed to be nice.

 “Happy!” Mary Sue says, running toward her. “Happy, I’m back!”

“Why?” Happy asks, and then hates herself for asking it. Mary Sue looks crushed. “No, Mary, I mean – I just thought you’d found…” She trails off.

Mary Sue shrugs. “Couldn’t leave you behind, you know?” But her smile seems breakable. “Had to come back and hang out with my girls.”

Before Happy can reply, Mrs. Sourey opens the door again. The rest of the girls in the room dive back under covers, but Happy stays sitting up, silent.

“What are you doing up, Happy?” Mrs. Sourey asks. “You should really get some sleep, dear.”

“I wanted to say hi to Mary,” Happy replies. She sounds defiant to her own ears, but she doesn’t know how to speak in any other way.

Mrs. Sourey nods. “As long as you don’t keep each other awake too long.” And then there’s that smile, small but real, that Happy sees on this woman’s face every once in a blue moon.

Mary Sue makes her bed in the dim light of the moon. But, instead of settling under the think blanket and resting her head on her pillow, she walks over to Happy.

“You okay?” Happy asks.

Mary Sue nods, fidgeting with her fingertips. “Can I come hang out here?”

Happy moves over. “Yeah, come on in.”

Mary Sue hops next to Happy, and suddenly the warmth is back in Happy’s bed.

“I missed you,” Happy says, smiling at Mary Sue. “A lot.”

“I missed you, too,” Mary Sue says. “I called you my sister all the time when I was at Mr. and Mrs. Harkness’ house.” She looks sad. “Tried to convince them to take you, too.”

Happy blinks. “You did? Really?”

Mary Sue nods. “I wish we could get adopted together, Happy.”

Happy puts her arm around Mary Sue, who rests her head on Happy’s shoulder. “I wish I could get adopted at all.”

The room is quiet for some time, Happy trying to wrap her head around the possibility that Mary Sue wants to be her family.

“You know,” Mary Sue murmurs, eyes closed, “I think, sometimes, that I’ll get out of here someday. Not with anybody else, but just all by myself.” She looks at Happy. “You know?”

Happy nods. “You definitely will. You’re going to be amazing.”

“Not as amazing as you,” Mary Sue laughs. “Remember last year’s Christmas?”

Happy laughs with her. “Yeah, they’ll never make us clean the bathrooms over the holidays again.”

Mary Sue yawns, resting her head on Happy’s shoulder. “I’m tired, Happy,” she mumbles.

“You can go to sleep.”

Mary Sue looks back up at her. “Happy, I’m tired,” she says again. “Not sleepy. I’m tired of not being wanted. I’m tired of being stuck here.” She looks out the window, the moon reflected in her brown eyes. “I just want to be out there, you know? Around other kids during the day and then I go home to my mom and dad.” She has a sad smile. “Shoot for the sky.”

“You can always shoot for the sky,” Happy says. “Come on, you just said it. You know you’ll get out of here someday.” Happy doesn’t feel the same way for herself. “Wait a second.”

“What?”

“Be the sky.”

Mary Sue blinks. “What?” she repeats.

“You can be the sky,” Happy explains. “You can be Sky.”

Mary Sue raises an eyebrow. "Like you're Happy?"

Happy rolls her eyes. "Okay, you know what I mean."

“Skye,” Mary Sue murmurs. There’s something in her eyes Happy’s never seen before. “I like that a lot better than Mary Sue Poots.” She mouths the word “Sky” a few times, like she’s practicing her own name until it feels just right. “I, uh. I’m going to need something else.”

Happy nods. “Yeah, what do you need?”

Skye smiles at her. “Can I borrow your last name?”

Happy blinks. “Like, really be my sister?”

Mary Sue – Skye – nods. “You’re already my big sister. I can be a brand new person. Skye Quinn.”

“I like that,” Happy says. She wants to continue, wants to say something to let her little friend know how much this means to her, but she’s interrupted with a yawn.

“Can I sleep here?” Skye asks, already blinking at sleep.

Happy nods, pulling her blanket over both of them. “G’night, Skye.”

“Night, big sister.”

It’s the first good night’s sleep Happy’s had in six years.

**Author's Note:**

> A while ago I remembered that Happy and Daisy would have been in the foster care system in LA at the same time. And then shaboom! I hope you enjoyed this!


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